Friday, March 28, 2014

All Welfare is Corporate Welfare

Did you ever wonder why most welfare programs continue to stay afloat even as it is proven to be riff with corruption, inefficiencies, and scandal?  The answer is simple: like all things in DC, lobby groups work constantly to keep these programs going on behalf of large corporations.

Case in point, I found this article from WeAreChange.org a little enlightening:

Although a notorious recipient of “corporate welfare,” Walmart has now admitted that their massive profits also depend on the funding of food stamps and other public assistance programs.

In their annual report, filed with the Security and Exchange Commission last week, the retail giant lists factors that could potentially harm future profitability. Listed among items such as “economic conditions” and “consumer confidence,” the company writes that changes in taxpayer-funded public assistance programs are also a major threat to their bottom line.The company writes:

“Our business operations are subject to numerous risks, factors and uncertainties, domestically and internationally, which are outside our control … These factors include … changes in the amount of payments made under the Supplement[al] Nutrition Assistance Plan and other public assistance plans, changes in the eligibility requirements of public assistance plans …”

Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, is notorious for paying poverty wages and coaching employees to take advantage of social programs. In many states, Walmart employees are the largest group of Medicaid recipients.

Notice that listed in this section I shared that Wal-Mart is dependent on not one, but two different forms of welfare: both Medicaid and SNAP.  In the past, Wal-Mart has also encouraged the raising of the minimum wage as well.  Recall also that Wal-Mart also allowed the poor to loot one of their stores when the EBT system went down.

It looks to me that Wal-Mart is a retail chain that is wholly dependent on the War on Poverty continuing because they make huge profits from other productive taxpayers who do not shop there.

It is one thing for a free market system where an individual can deny their money or services to a business.  But in this case, Wal-Mart is forcing the government to ensure that poor people get money so they can get rich.  This is not capitalism, this is cronyism at its finest.

All welfare programs exist for the express purpose of enriching the large corporate companies, which the Left hates so much.  This is largely because the poor tend to have more disposable income than the middle class due to the fact that the government subsidizes nearly every foundational expense they have from food to housing to utilities.  So of course Wal-Mart and other retail chains like them benefit from these programs because it means the poor can buy crap that they don’t need, thus boosting their profits.

No welfare program will ever be defunded or eradicated so long as the current system is in place.  And no, I’m not talking about the constitutional system, but the corporatist system that makes even the Whig party roll in their graves.

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